KAPRIZOV SCORES FIRST NHL HAT TRICK AS WILD EXTEND HOME WIN STREAK
Kirill Kaprizov scored three of the Wild’s four third-period tallies to record the first hat trick of his NHL career and help Minnesota extend its home win streak to six games, tied for the longest active run in the NHL (w/ NYI). Kaprizov became the second rookie in franchise history to score a hat trick, joining Justin Fontaine on Jan. 9, 2014 – like Kaprizov, Fontaine also achieved the feat against the Coyotes.

* Kaprizov reached 10 goals on the season (10-13—23 in 25 GP), tops among all rookies. He currently sits just eight shy of matching the single-season franchise record for most by a Wild rookie, a mark set by Marian Gaborik 20 years ago.



McDAVID AMASSES 50 POINTS IN 29 GAMES FOR SECOND STRAIGHT SEASON
Oilers captain and League scoring leader Connor McDavid had 1-2—3 – including a goal 10 seconds into the first period – to reach the 50-point mark in exactly 29 games for a second straight season (17-34—51).

* Only five different NHL players over the past 25 years have reached the 50-point mark in fewer than 29 games, including four who did so with Pittsburgh. Sidney Crosby is the only active player among that cohort.



PERRON PUSHES POINT STREAK TO EIGHT GAMES
David Perron scored the last of St. Louis’ three consecutive goals to put the Blues up 4-3 and extend his point streak to eight games (5-5—10), which marks the League’s longest active run. Alec Martinez (1-1—2) then pulled Vegas even with 8:33 remaining in regulation and assisted on the overtime winner by Reilly Smith (1-1—2) as the Golden Knights prevailed in the first half of their back-to-back set.

* Perron posted a point streak of at least eight games for the fifth time in his NHL career and fourth time with St. Louis. His lenghtiest is 13 games, a mark set from Dec. 22, 2018 to Jan. 17, 2019 (6-10—16) when the Blues were in the midst of their historic turnaround before winning the Stanley Cup later that spring.



GOALTENDERS GRUBAUER, TALBOT, DUBNYK RECORD SHUTOUTS
Philipp Grubauer (18 saves), Cam Talbot (25 saves) and Devan Dubnyk (34 saves) each recorded a shutout to backstop the Avalanche, Wild and Sharks to wins:

* Grubauer grabbed his fourth shutout of 2020-21 to move into a tie for the League lead and establish a single-season career high, eclipsing his previous mark of three last achieved in 2018-19 during his first season with Colorado.

* Talbot registered his first shutout since being signed by Minnesota on Oct. 9, 2020 and the 27th of his NHL career (23 regular season, 4 playoffs). Only two other active, undrafted goaltenders have recorded a higher combined total: Sergei Bobrovsky (34) and Martin Jones (30).

* Dubnyk posted his first shutout since being traded to the Sharks by the Wild on Oct. 5, 2020. His 25 regular-season shutouts since the start of the 2014-15 campaign rank tied for the fourth-most in the NHL over that span.



DID YOU KNOW?
Colorado, which forged a 46-14 (+32) advantage in shots against Arizona on Wednesday, outshot Los Angeles by a 46-18 (+28) margin on Friday. The Avalanche became the first team to outshoot opponents by a combined margin of 60 or more shots across any two regular-season games since 1990-91, when the Flames (Feb. 21-23, 1991) and Bruins (March 21-23, 1991) each did so.

QUICK CLICKS

* NHL announces updates to the 2020-21 regular-season schedule
* Artemi Panarin could return for Rangers against Bruins
* Nikita Kucherov on schedule to return to Lightning by Stanley Cup Playoffs
* Henrik Lundqvist not ruled out from playing for Capitals this season
* Future of female coaches discussed on 'NHL @TheRink' podcast

PREVIEW OF TODAY’S ACTION
Saturday’s 12-game slate is set to open at 1 p.m. ET when the Bruins host the Rangers in their second straight head-to-head meeting at TD Garden.



OVECHKIN EYES ESPOSITO ON ALL-TIME GOALS LIST
Alex Ovechkin (715-582—1,297 in 1,174 GP) has two goals over his last three games and enters Saturday’s action against the Flyers just two shy of tying Phil Esposito (717-873—1,590 in 1,282 GP) for sixth place on the NHL’s all-time list.



* The Capitals captain would require a multi-goal outing on Saturday to tie the Bruins icon, a feat he has already accomplished against the Flyers this season (Feb. 7). His 38 career regular-season goals against Philadelphia are his seventh-most against one franchise, behind Tampa Bay (48), Winnipeg/Atlanta (48), Carolina (43), Toronto (41), Florida (39) and NY Islanders (39).

* With another two goals on Saturday, Ovechkin would also record his 147th career multi-goal outing and move into a tie with another Hockey Hall of Fame member, Gordie Howe, for fourth place on the League’s all-time list.

ISLANDERS LOOK TO CLIMB FRANCHISE WIN STREAK LIST
The Islanders will look to extend the League’s longest active winning streak to eight games when they visit the Devils at Prudential Center – the Hurricanes also currently own a seven-game stretch and will return to action on Sunday against the Red Wings.

* This is the second consecutive season that the Islanders have strung together a lengthy winning streak after a 10-game run in 2019-20 that marked the second longest in franchise history. Brock Nelson has led the Islanders over the current seven-game run with 5-1—6, including an active five-game point streak.



MAPLE LEAFS SET SIGHTS ON 20TH WIN
The League-leading Maple Leafs (19-7-2, 40 points) are set to close out their three-game set with the Jets after the clubs split the first two contests – Connor Hellebuyck (36 saves) backstopped Winnipeg to a 4-3 win on Tuesday, while Auston Matthews scored the overtime winner for Toronto on Thursday.

* The Maple Leafs, already the first team to collect 40 points in 2020-21, can also become the first to reach 20 wins. The last season in which Toronto was the first team in the NHL to 20 victories occurred in 1962-63 – that year, the Maple Leafs went on to win their 11th Stanley Cup in franchise history.

OILERS PUT ROAD RUN ON THE LINE ON HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA
Fresh off a seven-game homestand, the Oilers hit the road to visit the Canucks on Hockey Night in Canada. Edmonton is riding a six-game road winning streak – a longer run than any team has registered this season. The Oilers have only recorded a road winning streak of seven or more games twice in franchise history (8 GP in 1986-87 and 7 GP in 1983-84).

* After suffering a pair of losses to the Oilers on Feb. 23 and 25, the Canucks have rebounded with a 4-2-0 mark in their last six outings, including a pair of wins over the division-leading Maple Leafs.

Thanks to the NHL PR department for the information above.